N'DJAMENA, Chad - Government helicopters in Chad's capital were being used to hunt fleeing rebels who left the city littered with dead, reports from N'Djamena said.

Anti-government forces converged on the city late last week mainly in pickup trucks and waged heavy fighting with police and government forces. By Sunday night, most of the rebels had retreated, although with intelligence and logistics from France, helicopter crews were searching for the fighters scattered in the desert around the capital of the former French colony, the BBC said.

The rebels were reportedly running low on ammunition and fuel.

No formal death toll has been released but the Red Cross said workers had begun collecting bodies from the dusty streets strewn with burned-out vehicles. Various relief agencies said at least 1,000 people were injured and more than 20,000 others fled into neighboring Cameroon and Nigeria.

French Defense Minister Herve Morin was in the city for talks with Chadian President Idriss Deby and French soldiers were accompanying Chadian security patrols, the report said.